Colorado Scenery - Yankee Boy Basin - Page 2

The basin at Yankee Boy is at 12,400 feet in elevation. We haven't gone very far beyond the public toilet, but from the brochures I've read there are certain sections that can be treacherous and it can become a class 5 trip. We made this trip in 1999 and again in July of 2001. The road was rougher than we remember it being the first time we went up here.

In the year 2001 the Forest Service started charging 5.00 per car to access the basin. The money collected is to preserve the wilderness. We had heard about the fee and didn't know where we were to pay it, about half way up we encountered the self service fee station. The forest service personal were very friendly and helpful and answered questions we had.

Another view of the surrounding mountains.

Close up of our state flower, the Columbine. Don't pick these!

While we were eating we were looking around at the surrounding mountains. There was a section that looked like an arch, but it also looked like snow. We set the camera to telephoto and were surprised to find a formation that looked like a face carved into the rock wall. We thought it was interesting.

My fear of riding on the cliff side really kicked in when we headed back down to Ouray, so I walked quite a bit of it. On the way I noticed this mine in the distance. The red arrow points it out, you can't see it too well. Below is a close up of it.

Close up of mine. Makes you wonder how the miners were able to get supplies to the mine. It is very remote and I'm sure getting there was not easy.